"Sailing" is a 1979 soft rock song written and recorded by American artist Christopher Cross. It was released in June 1980 as the second single from his debut album Christopher Cross (1979), which was already certified Gold by this time. The song was a success in the United States, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on August 30, 1980, where it stayed for one week. The song also won Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Arrangement of the Year, and helped Cross win the Best New Artist award. VH1 named "Sailing" the most "softsational soft rock" song of all time. The song was recorded in 1979, utilizing the 3M Digital Recording System, making it one of the first digitally recorded songs to chart. In his Grammy acceptance speech, Cross acknowledged "Sailing" as his favorite song on the album and that originally it was not meant to be a single. The song was later identified as an archetype of the style that later became known as yacht rock (Cross and similar artists referred to the style as the West Coast sound at the time). Background Cross has said in interviews that the song's inspiration was his friendship with an older friend from his high school, Al Glasscock, who would take him sailing as a teenager, just to get away from the trials and tribulations of being a teenager. Glasscock functioned as a surrogate older brother during a tough time for Cross emotionally. Although Cross lost touch with Glasscock, The Howard Stern Show in April 1995 reunited the two after 28 years. Cross acknowledged on the show that his sailing trips with Glasscock had been the inspiration for the song. After that reunion, Cross sent Glasscock a copy of the platinum record he earned for selling more than five million copies of "Sailing." Personnel Christopher Cross – voices, 12 strings electric guitar and arrangements Andy Salmon – bass Michael Omartian – acoustic piano and arrangements Rob Meurer – electric piano and arrangements Victor Feldman – percussions Tommy Taylor – drums Charts Year-end charts See also List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1980 References External links The 45 version of "Sailing" on YouTube Lyric Video Songs about boats Songs about oceans and seas 1979 songs 1980 singles Christopher Cross songs Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Grammy Award for Record